The Story Behind the Story Behind THE Story
by AncientFire
Summary: Petunia Dursley tells Harry about her years before Lily went to Hogwarts.
1. Default Chapter

My first ever real fanfiction. I personally really like this, but it's my "brainchild" so I'm awfully biased (my favorite term!) Let me know what you think! And read stuff by my friend Erin (theunluckymagician). It's all brilliant stuff. :)

* * *

"They took my sister away from me, somewhere that I couldn't follow her, like I had always done. I felt like Samwise Gamgee in The Lord of the Rings when he said 'Don't go where I can't follow.' But he got Frodo back. I didn't get Lily back."  
  
Harry Potter sat in the living room of 4 Privet Drive in absolute shock. He had come to collect his things to never return again, and now his Aunt was baring her soul out to him. Not exactly what one would expect after all those years of neglect.  
  
"Your world stole my best friend away and I could no longer confide in her, laugh with her, or even really relate to her anymore. We had both changed after she left for school. The changes were normal, we were growing up. But when we changed so drastically and were not used to each other being so different and it was simply...awkward." Petunia Dursley paused briefly to take a sip out of her teacup before she began again.  
  
"I had always thought that emotions like sadness and grief make you weak. They humiliate you and tear you down. And so when Lily got that letter, I was sad and practically grieving. I turned it to anger, malice and hate. And soon the pretensions had become reality, and when she come to my doorstep, asking for shelter with you in her arms, I couldn't give that hate up."  
  
As Harry thought he saw tears form in Petunia's eyes, they were gone again. "My dreams had been utterly destroyed the day she received that letter. I had always imagined Lily's and my children growing up as neighbours, and having Sunday dinner together for the rest of our lives. And I couldn't be with her when I died. In fact, I probably killed her." The tears really fell this time, leaving Harry not knowing what to do.  
  
But Petunia got a hold of herself. "And then I turned that anger on you. Every time I looked at your eyes, I was haunted by visions of Lily. They way she looked when she got the letter, when she had brought your father home, when I had turned her away."  
  
"Uh, Aunt Petunia, would it do you any good to tell me about the happy times you had with my mum?" Harry suggested. The now eighteen year old knew it was a corny line, but one could tell Petunia was a corny woman by looking at her decorating.  
  
Nothing surprised Harry more than the nod she gave him as she began again....

* * *

BTW, this is a prologue to the main story, which is simply Petunia talking to Harry about Lily and her when they were younger. The fic should be under 10 chapters.  
  
And for the Lord of the Rings ignorant, Samwise Gamgee has a beautiful line in The Return of the King where he says "Don't go where I can't follow!" to Frodo (who he thinks is dead. Its one of my favorite lines, and I couldn't help but see the comparisons in the situations.) 


	2. First Memories

A/N- I didn't mean for this to take so long. Apologies. I'm going to see PoA tomorrow!!!! WHOOOOO! I am really excited.  
  
"Lily was only a year older than me, and that was one of the reasons we were so close. When Lily was five and I was four, we discovered that we were a terrible force to recon with."  
  
FLASHBACK (being told to Harry)  
  
"AH! No! Petunia, please put down Mummy's Garden-of-the-Year trophy! Good girl! Now, lets find you some lovely toys- No! Not Mummy's Welsh Dresser tea set! Let's play with the blocks, Pet, c'mon lovey!" Came Mrs. Dorothy Evan's voice from the living room where a small Petunia Dursley was being a bit of a handful.  
  
Lily Evans emerged from the kitchen. "Mummy, can Pet and I go outside in the garden?"  
  
Her mother looked absolutely relieved. "What a good idea, Lily. Go on Petunia, go out in the garden with Lily!"  
  
The two girls ran off, whispering to each other as they went. They weren't seen again until Mrs. Evans found them that afternoon, asleep under a tree with a now-empty cookie jar between them.  
  
END FLASHBACK  
  
"Lily and I worked together like that often, and usually pulled it off flawlessly. Our roles would switch, sometimes I would be the one to distract our mother and sometimes Lily would be. Nothing we decided we wanted was ever safe from us."  
  
"Lily had a strong sense of what was right. She always stood up for me at school. When the other children at primary school would tease me, she always knew how to make them back down."  
  
FLASHBACK  
  
"...quite contrary how does your garden grow? With Pet's big face and-"  
  
"Oliver Crompton! You leave Petunia alone!" The fiery copper headed girl, only ten, said, while heading over.  
  
"Aww, Petunia has to have big sis come and get her!" one of Oliver's cronies drawled.  
  
"You and your friends had better leave Petunia alone or I will tell your mother what you said to Lizzie Bennet on Monday." Lily threatened.  
  
"You wouldn't!" Crompton gasped.  
  
"I would." Lily said evenly, folding her arms across her chest.  
  
Oliver and his friends glared for a moment then left to play cricket. Or, "accidentally" hit other students close by the field.  
  
END FLASHBACK  
  
"MUM???" came a thunderous call from the doorway. It was obviously Dudley. Petunia simply put down her teacup, while Harry grimaced.  
  
"Go out the back way. Come back tomorrow." She said as she disappeared into the entrance to greet her son. Who was now booming for a prawn sandwich.  
  
Harry did not bother to use the back door and simply apparated to 12 Grimmauld Place, where he was currently residing.  
  
"That took awhile." Ron commented from the kitchen.  
  
"Yeah, my Aunt decided she wanted to talk about my mum. I'm going back tomorrow."  
  
"You're going back?" Ron came out of the kitchen with a prawn sandwich.  
  
"I don't know a whole lot about my mum. I know some about while she was at Hogwarts, but I know absolutely nothing about before then. I don't see another ample opportunity to find out."  
  
"Can't argue with that. Still sounds like a miserable way to find out though." He said before taking a large bite out of the sandwich.  
  
Harry didn't answer. It really wasn't that bad....  
  
A/N-reviews are much appreciated. 


	3. The End

Harry stood on the doorstep of Number 4 Privet Drive and looked around uncomfortably. Should he knock? He had lived there his entire life until two days ago.... he decided that knocking was the best idea in this situation.  
  
His Aunt Petunia opened the door. "Come in, and hurry up, don't let the neighbours see you, we've told them they finally put you away."  
  
Harry sat in the same small seat he had the day before and waited for Petunia to return with her cup of tea and her memories.

* * *

Lily's red hair streamed behind her as she rode down the street on her bicycle. "Come on Petunia! Ride faster! Its more fun when you ride fast!" she yelled back to her sister.  
  
Petunia rode up, her short black hair not making quite as big of a flag from the back of her head, as she thought Lily's looked like. "There's the ice cream truck!" she cried, pointing to the chiming vehicle stopped not too far off.  
  
The two pedaled down the hill and screeched to a quick stop in front of the truck. Each pulled out their pocket money and bought a Popsicle.  
  
They discovered that it was rather hard to eat a Popsicle in the summer heat and ended up flinging the dripping juice at each other. When the Popsicles were gone, Lily was spattered with blue juice, and Petunia purple.  
  
Petunia challenged Lily on a race home, and managed to beat her by a couple feet. "You didn't let me win, did you?" she demanded as they dismounted.  
  
"No, I didn't. I hate riding uphill." Lily replied.  
  
As they entered the house, their mother's eyes went wide. "What were the two of you doing? The point of buying Popsicles is to eat them, not bathe in them!" she exclaimed. She sent them up to wash and Lily ran up, beating Petunia to the bathroom easily.

* * *

"We never had another experience like that, just being silly. Lily left for that school the next September, and she came home too old to do things like that again. I wasn't used to it because the Lily that I last saw was such fun, and when she came back, she didn't want to do things the same anymore."  
  
"What did my mum not do very well?" Harry asked.  
  
Petunia almost smiled, but she looked smug all the same. "She could **_not _**cook."

* * *

Lily was home for Christmas holidays in her sixth year, and her boyfriend was coming over for Christmas dinner.  
  
"'Tunia, James is going to be here soon! Can you put the wreath up? I'm stirring this Morgana-cursed gravy!"  
  
_She even speaks differently-she can't just curse like normal people_. Petunia thought as she dug through the Christmas boxes and pulled out the shabbiest wreath she could find. Mum and Dad are probably turning in their graves now that she's got a freak boyfriend.  
  
From the kitchen came a huge 'WHOOSH' and Lily screamed. "The gravy's on fire! Merlin, Mordred and Morgan! Petunia! HELP!"  
  
Petunia rolled her eyes as she entered the kitchen. The gravy was indeed on fire. She deftly pulled out some backing powder and sprinkled it over the burning lumps and the fire puttered out.  
  
"You are an absolute dunce in the kitchen, Lily. Don't they teach you how to cook in that freak school of yours?"  
  
"No, you can use charms to have it cook itself." Lily said, jumping as a timer set off. She ran over and pulled the chicken that Petunia had prepared out of the oven. As she tried to cut it, she found she had problems cutting straight. She finally muttered "Screw it" and ran upstairs, returning with a wand.  
  
"You're not allowed to use that during holidays!" Petunia exclaimed.  
  
Lily grinned. "This is an unregistered, untracked wand. The Ministry of Magic has no idea it exists, much less who uses it." She told her, and demonstrated by turning a few teacups into mice, then turning them back again. No owl swooped in, and so Lily began cutting up the chicken by wand.  
  
"That's just not natural." Petunia muttered.

* * *

"Vernon will be home shortly, you need to leave. And do us a favour and don't come back anymore." Petunia said stiffly, standing up. Harry followed her out to the entryway, where she pushed a box at him with her foot.  
  
"These are her things." Petunia said. "They were cluttering up the attic."  
  
Harry stepped out the front door and turned around. "Thanks, Aunt Petunia, for-"  
  
Petunia closed the door, and Harry walked away to live the rest of his life blissfully without the Dursleys.  
  
A/N- I ended this sooner than I expected, just because I found it was becoming difficult to snag computer time, because of the needs of the rest of mi familia. It was fun though! A heartfelt thanks to everyone who reviewed, they made me warm and fuzzy! Leave me an email if you have comments or questions, I'd love to hear from you!


End file.
